let us have a decent prayer before battle. I’ll show them, have our archer’s rain hell on them. Teach them to mind their own manners” ordered Costovna. 

His aide-de-camp turned back towards the group and shouted “Archers ready!” raising him arm in a signal of his orders.

They immediately started getting their bows readied to fire, they too had longbows. They pulled back their bows, ready to fire.

 “Archers ready!” a voice shouted back, “Release!” the aide commanded, dropping his hand.

Everyone watched as the arrows soared through the air towards the hill, they too did a similar wall of shields. The results were the same, most arrows didn’t really hit a person, few did hit, but mostly only wounds.

 “Some stay down! I said some!” ordered the wolf in charge of the unit. When the men got up from their defensive positions, they got up and howled. Of course, it looked they had lost more than they had.

 The aide merely raised his hand again, signifying another volley, once they were ready he ordered, “Release!”

The second volley had the same affect. A few were wounded, a couple more stayed down as apart of Baltar’s big plan. Howls didn’t come from the hill this time.  

“Send us in, we can flatten what’s left!” shouted a knight, eager to join the battle. Many other knights shout in approval of such a move.

“They’re weakened pretty badly." the general agreeing with the knights, "Send in the horses, full attack!” ordered Costovna, seeing an easy victory over the potentially dangerous one he had in his mind. He also wanted to appease the knights that he knew he needed should he need them t fight for him in the near future.

“Can I join them?” asked his aide, wanting to be apart of this victory.

“If you wish. Flatten them like a blizzard on grass.” He said

“Thank you sir!” replied his aide.

“Horsemen! To the front!” he ordered, they passed through the ranks with ease and made a formation two horse deep by seventy-five wide.

“Advance to the foot of the hill!” shouted Costovna, meaning the infantry of the army was to be ready to mop up the mess.

The horses started at a trot and then gradually accelerated till they were running as best they could in the conditions of the hills terrain. 

Baltar’s archers fired again, stopping the infantry for a moment to raise they’re shields in protection.

Costovna saw a nuisance they needed to be rid of, “Archers ready!” he ordered.

A moment later he heard the “Archers ready!” returned. “Aim for the archers on the right!” he ordered, he knew his aide would curve to the left because more men were on that side.

“Release!” he ordered. His horsemen had almost made it too their foe. Baltar’s archers were able to get another volley off before the arrows landed amongst the archers on his left flank. The losses here were very real and very costly indeed; nearly half the archers on his left flank were casualties.

The horsemen were heading straight into the center of Baltar’s line, just like he had planned on. His own forces started too pull back, keeping those faking death hidden. And then, just when the horsemen were about to catch them, they split into two directions, the larger group being on the left.  Almost no bodies were on the ground, far less then what they thought had been there.

Costovna’s aide was just getting the formation too turn to the left, creating a big jam of horses, when a group of archers, fifty in total, appeared on crest of the hill, a little bit on the left side of the battle formations. All started firing into the jumble of horses and men.

Quite a few men and horses fell or were wounded by the sudden attack, this however was only the ground work for a much more deceptive plan. Both retreating groups suddenly turned around and ran back at their mounted enemy. Another force appeared running over the crest of the hill, roughly sixty peasant infantry led by none other than Baltar himself, charging at the confused horsemen.

The groups on either side of the horsemen reached them first, then Baltar’s group. The fighting was close, personal, and brutal. Some horses had their legs cut from underneath them; quite a number of knights were pulled from their horses and killed on the ground.

 Baltar stabbed his sword into the underarm of a knight trying to defend himself. The thrust punctured his lung and pierced his heart, killing him. Baltar also cut the throat of an un-horsed knight on the nearby ground. He himself saw one of his men beat an un-horsed knight with the pummel of his sword, the man’s face was red from blood, but he still got pounded. There was a variety of weapons used here, swords, knives, axes, hammers, sickles, maces, etc.

The air was full of the screams of the dead and dying, whilst the ground was turned red with blood.

The infantry had seen their horsemen chasing their enemy down, but they had had to take cover behind their shields because of that last volley. When they lowered their shields, they saw their horsemen being slaughtered by the men they thought they had beaten. Morale was shattered at this point.

Howls of glory were echoed throughout the air from the glorious victors of their large skirmish.

Costovna was both shocked and angered at this sight. He had lost a very capable colleague of his and a lot of experienced men in that one charge.

He drew his on sword and shouted too the men in front of him, “Infantry Forward! NOW!”

His men did as they were told and started too march forward. All of Baltar’s archers fired a volley into his entire front line. Dropping numbers all round. It was at this that all Baltar’s infantry charged forward.

Unbeknownst to the human’s, a light cavalry force, about seventy wolves, was charging at full speed towards the archers. It wasn’t until the hooves could be heard that any of the archers noticed. Once they did, the riders gave out a loud howl and rammed right into the archer formation, starting to scatter at the appearance of horses.

This force had been hidden by the giant “U” of the hill, and they had wrapped around it to end up behind the human army. 

Now with their rear exposed and an enemy charging at them, their fate had been sealed with this “Hammer and Anvil” tactic. 

The fighting was as fierce as ever. The wolf cavalry closed in behind the humans and gave many of them nowhere too run.

With the archers, and the horses out of action, Costovna had lost a third of his force, much of what was left was being wiped out.

Baltar had been in the thick of the fighting, slashing at anything that didn’t look like a wolf. He cut off a man’s leg, slashed another across his face, he bit at another man’s throat, decapitated another, stabbed into the underarm of an armored soldier, stabbed a peasant in the chest, and slashed another’s throat. Many others on both sides did similar acts, and this was continued on for roughly ten minutes. Men were captured on both sides, though eventually the human’s were starting to lose more men then they could keep fighting. They were tired and weren’t seeing much prospect of winning.

Some formations started to retreat, be it either out of broken morale or high casualty rate. Costovna was captured during the fighting, receiving several wounds and bruises. After this, much of the fight was out of the human’s, and now with the loss of their leader, they had lost any real hope of victory. Shortly after his capture, mass surrender’s started to occur amongst the human army. Eventually what was left dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender.

 Baltar’s sword and upper body was covered in much blood, as were many others amongst the living and dead on both sides. There were the screams and moans of the dead and dying on the field, hill, of battle. Victorious howls of triumph were sent throughout the wolf lines.

Baltar had been very meticulous about his choice of the field of battle. He had also been counting on the foolhardiness of his enemy, especially the eagerness amongst the knights. He used the hill to mask the less protected and equipped portions of his forces. Though the majority of his army had been on the hill, he made it seem as he’d been outnumbered 3-1, when in fact he was only outnumbered 2-1. The shape of this hill also masked the movements of his horses, making his enemy believe that he had none.

The casualties amongst Baltar’s army were: 268 total. 183 killed, 51 wounded, thirty-three captured (all recovered).

The casualties amongst Costovna’s army were more severe: 765. 291 killed, 117 wounded, 474 captured (including the wounded). The remaining 150 or so soldiers were deserters.

Though Baltar was the victor, holding enough knights and the general, for a hefty ransom. He didn’t entirely think he wanted their money, nor did he want to release them. He’d release the peasants and less important soldiers, because he couldn’t expect much of a ransom for their lives but he also didn’t see much need to imprison these men.

They were merely following the orders of the nobles, though he hated humans, he didn’t see the need to make himself look like a butcher; he needed a better image for now. By sparing their lives, he would be known as compassionate, along with brave, bold, and chivalrous for his sweet victory. A good image would give his cause meaning, popularity, enthusiasm, and publicity.